We are uniquely, passionately and collaboratively creating common knowledge, acknowledging universal values, working to ensure access to everyone and sharing a new water story by building a global science-based #bluemind movement.

We are always one step ahead on big, creative, and disruptive ideas that improve our relationship with water and oceans.

We have no staff, overhead or offices, receive no foundation or government grants, have no big donors, sponsors or celebrity spokespeople, and have never held a fundraiser. Through Patreon we are baking a new funding pie, and our solid patrons, ambassadors, and partners drive this global movement.

Doing things differently and pioneering big new ideas is hard. So, we get a lot done with modest resources, artful collaboration, and a creative, passionate team. Think of what we could do with a little more!

A New Water Story

We're just like you, we love to be near, in, on, or under water. Lakes, rivers, ponds, oceans, pools, tubs...

It's been a defining force throughout our lives. And we pay very close attention to how other people think, feel, talk, and act towards water. What we notice is truly amazing. World-changing. Revolutionary, even.

When we went looking for a book, a conference, a conversation, or film focused on the full, true value of healthy waters we found that spot on the shelf quite surprisingly empty.

So, now our job is to fill it that gap, connect the dots, and build the bridges. By tirelessly writing books, articles, organizing summits and workshops, teaching, researching, giving talks, communicating with press, and contributing to films that help people live better on - and take better care of - this water planet.

Why? Because water is medicine for everyone, especially those who need it most. And we want that to be Common Knowledge.

The term Common Knowledge implies two underlying principles: it stands for things that should be conventional wisdom but aren’t, as well as essential knowledge that only emerges from dialogue between diverse participants that generates shared common understanding and new paths forward.

The old story of water is out of date, has served us poorly, and has resulted in a global undervaluing of healthy waters and oceans. Together we need to create a new water story.

Some have called Blue Mind a "movement of movements" for water and people.Water Is Our Client

People ask, "who do you work for?" The simple answer is: water. Water is our client.

We work with a wide range of organizations, businesses, agencies, movements, and individuals to tell the new story of water while building on personal and professional relationships that go back several decades. You could say that we are growing, widening, and deepening the Blue Mind movement on a daily basis.

We're very fortunate to collaborate with a wildly talented and creative team of neuroscientists, psychologists, artists, teachers, and watermen and women with diverse skills. So our approach is interdisciplinary and our reach is global.

And as our patrons, we work for you.

We have no salaried jobs or formal paid academic positions. This has been both challenging personally and an exciting opportunity to make a different kind of contribution...and we are excited about both. Our approach is always experimental, innovative, and iterative. We are never redundant.

Your support through Patreon is the key.

You put the fuel in our tank, which leads to unique, artful collaborations and risk-taking projects (we've been told seven times along the way that this approach was "career suicide"). This approach also allows us to share how Blue Mind Works with all of our partners to help them do what they do even better. It's kind of like "Vitamin Blue" for teams, projects, and organizations, some have said. The missing ingredient that makes so many things work better.

The old story we've long told about water is outdated.

You could even say it's dangerously incomplete. Some have said it's boring. Really, it's not easy to make this subject - water, lakes, rivers, oceans - boring!

The result of a perpetually stale, outdated, and incomplete story is that waters and oceans are undervalued and whenever anything or anyone is undervalued, bad things happen.

As our client, we seek to share water's new story as far and wide as we can. We build networks, generate new research and compile the best science - and then we share what we learn widely and wildly. We are efficient, extra clever, always collaborative, and our reach is global.

Usually what's missing from water's story relates to its cognitive, emotional, psychological, social, physical, and spirtual benefits, the so-called "Blue Mind Works" attributes. Those have been ignored, downplayed, or discarded in favor of important economic, ecological, and educational aspects. This is a common observation across many sectors.

Water makes life possible, of course. But it also makes life worth living. Healthy, clean blueways and oceans are also medicine - both for physical and mental health - for those who need it most.

Blue Mind Works is leading a revolutionary movement and changing our thinking about the true value of water and we invite you to join us. You have many talents, skills, and gifts and we'd like to put them to good use.

Our goal is to share our message widely and wildly, to change the conversation so that every human understands the true full value of clean, healthy water, blueways, and oceans. For good. And it's happening!

We dream of a bigger, wider, smarter, and more inclusive blue movement where this value is shared with everyone and that knowledge is integrated across all sectors of society.

Audacious and ambitious? Yes.

Together with a team of unstoppable ambassadors we're taking our Blue Mind message to all ten major 'WET HEARTS+' sectors through an approach we call #PlanBlue. Over the next decade we will engage with the thought leaders and gate keepers in each of these ten sectors. Our team of ambassadors will deliver workshops and trainings to 10,000 leaders in each sector, each year. 10k leaders x 10 sectors x 10 years = 1,000,000 new Blue Mind leaders.

Books and films are at the core of this effort. The national bestseller Blue Mindwas the first book in the water trilogy. It's already been translated into a dozen formats and languages, inspiring hundreds of millions of people through a variety of media. We will also create workbooks, directed to the specific needs of each sector.

Blue Mind is a fascinating study of the emotional, behavioral, psychological and physical connections that keep humans so enchanted with water. Nichols examines seas and oceans, lakes and rivers, even swimming pools and the contents of our bathtubs in a study that is both highly readable and rooted in real research.~ Washington Post

You can be part of Blue Mind Works, help develop the first ever course based on the book, ensure that our annual summits remain strong, and support the creation of our first film and the next two books in the trilogy. If you've read this far, we can assume you're with us.

But first things first...are you ready to go deeper?

In addition to providing support for our daily efforts, this campaign funds the research, writing, editing, and promotion for book two Live Blue: The Seven Ages of Water (Or How to Move, Groove, Love, Play, Strive, Thrive & Win More on Our Little Wet Planet).

A lot of work goes into writing (and disseminating) a book and this next one is a beast!

While the national bestsellerBlue Minddescribed a new way of seeing and understanding water, Live Blue goes deeper and provides a prescription for applying those insights throughout our lives and across all major sectors of society: a blueprint for living well on a water planet.

The Seven Ages of Water was the theme of our 7th Annual Summit and the concept forms the backbone of the Live Blue book as we plunge into our evolving, lifelong complex relationship with water. The categories are overlapping, they recycle, and the edges are not sharp, but the outline is robust, making the research and writing fun and extremely practical.

The Seven Ages of Water

Age 1: BIRTH ~ During conception, gestation, delivery, for babies and toddlers, it's a watery situation.Age 2: PLAY ~ Encompassing childhood and adolescence but the best minds never stop playing. Water, of course, always makes play better.Age 3: THE LOVER ~ When our passions for life, ideas, places, and each other deepen. Water is often the backdrop to finding lifelong passions and romances.Age 4: THE FIGHTER ~ As athletes, advocates, or warriors we learn to fight for what we love most, but every successful warrior knows that humility and rest are sacred. Water provides both. Age 5: THE JUSTICE ~ With accumulated wisdom & experience we balance the weight of the world.Age 6: EBB & FLOW ~ Water is medicine, as the body & mind begin to slow, gravity becomes our enemy. We can crash at any time, but water is still our old friend no matter what ails us, throughout every age of life.Age 7: DEATH ~ From our last breath through memorialization and grief it's back to the source: water. Water provides a backdrop to reconciliation, consilience, and remembrance as we honor those we've lost.

"Peacefulness, happiness, satisfaction and…better surfing? It turns out going for a surf is really good for you, and if biologist Wallace J. Nichols’ research is any indication, that’s only the beginning."~ SURFER Magazine

Through new cutting edge science - on everything from birth to play, romance to death - and gripping stories and fascinating protagonists you'll learn even more about yourself, how water supports us at each age and how to live better on this blue marble planet we all call home.

Here's how we'll get there:

Your support will help dig up the coolest new research, interview those on the front lines of water, translate and transcribe our eight annual summits, get the book onto shelves and into new languages around the world, and then promote it far and wide through all kinds of media, gatherings, a super fun (and wet) book tour, and many online book clubs.

We will even be rethinking the book's format to make it work better and go further. We are excited to share our ideas with you. Live Blue will launch in coordination with our 6th Annual 100 Days of Blue Mind Challenge. Daily we'll read one of the 100 essays live. And this book is literally made to fall apart, as each essay will be published in a different magazine, newspaper, newsletter, blog or language helping reach more people with this important message.

We'll update you every step of the way from my desk to the bookstores and the big screen, and from proposal and publisher to printing another bestseller!

At each of the seven levels of support we will unlock new surprises, gifts, and rewards. We'll reveal insights about each of the seven ages of water, the backbone of the book and film. We'll share sneak-peak excerpts from the book and video clips from the film as we go. There will even be some surprise gifts along the way. As we reach the higher goals, we'll have drawings for some of the bigger surprises and rewards. You'll get more than you give when you join early and invite friends.

Jump in, the water is great!The Blue Mind Works Team

Tiers

SKY

$1 or more per month ∙ 29 of 10000 patrons

A very special hand-written Slow Coast thank you post card loaded with gratitude.

INDIGO

Front row seats for you and a guest at the Live Blue book launch, wherever it is, including your flights, accommodations and inclusion in all the fun activities.

As well as a personal book talk at your venue during the year. Your event, house, office, club or school will be one of the stops on the Live Blue book tour. With signed complementary books for all attending - OR- bring your team (up to 12) to the Slow Coast for a unique immersive 3-day Blue Mind Experience.

Plus all the other cool stuff: a signed first edition hardcover copies of both Blue Mind and Live Blue, as well as limited edition Blue Mind hats, Cause Bar soaps and blue marbles for your whole crew.

Once we reach our goal, you'll also be entered into a drawing to win the ultimate Blue Mind Expedition to Baja with J.

Patrons at this level and higher will be listed as 2019 co-sponsors of all Blue Mind Works keynotes, events, awards and summits.

MIDNIGHT

Your story or insights about the cognitive, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual benefits of water will be woven into one of the chapters of Live Blue.

Front row seats for you and a guest at the Live Blue book launch, wherever it is, including your flights, accommodations and inclusion in all the fun activities.

As well as a personal book talk at your venue during the year. Your event, house, office, club or school will be one of the stops on the Live Blue book tour. With signed complementary books for all attending - OR- bring your team (up to 12) to the Slow Coast for a unique immersive 3-day Blue Mind Experience.

Plus all the other cool stuff: a signed first edition hardcover copies of both Blue Mindand Live Blue, as well as limited edition Blue Mind hats, Cause Bar soaps and blue marbles for your whole crew.

Once we reach our goal, you'll also be entered into a drawing to win the ultimate Blue Mind Expedition to Baja with J.

Patrons at this level and higher will be listed as 2019 co-sponsors of all Blue Mind Works keynotes, events, awards and summits.

NAVY

You and a guest will co-lead a mind-blowing Blue Mind Expedition to Baja with Dr. Nichols along with the pair of winners selected from the drawing.

You will also be J's guest at the Live Blue book launch and your venue of choice will be a stop on the Live Blue book tour, with complementary signed books for all attending - OR- bring your team (up to 12) to the Slow Coast for a unique immersive 3-day Blue Mind Experience.

Plus all of the other cool rewards, of course!

Patrons at this level and higher will be listed as 2019 co-sponsors of all Blue Mind Works keynotes, events, awards and summits.

Goals

$1,109 of $2,000 per month

Reaching each of seven goals, doubling the previous amount seven times, will unlock a new group of rewards, surprises and videos, continuing at each level until we pass the $8,000/mo mark (and beyond).

Once we have reached our first goals of $250, $500, and $1,000/month more t-shirts will be printed and some surprise rewards will be on their way.

Now our fourth goal is to double that and reach $2,000!

No matter when you join in, you'll benefit as we climb the ladder's seven rungs and build the Blue Mind movement together.

We are uniquely, passionately and collaboratively creating common knowledge, acknowledging universal values, working to ensure access to everyone and sharing a new water story by building a global science-based #bluemind movement.

We are always one step ahead on big, creative, and disruptive ideas that improve our relationship with water and oceans.

We have no staff, overhead or offices, receive no foundation or government grants, have no big donors, sponsors or celebrity spokespeople, and have never held a fundraiser. Through Patreon we are baking a new funding pie, and our solid patrons, ambassadors, and partners drive this global movement.

Doing things differently and pioneering big new ideas is hard. So, we get a lot done with modest resources, artful collaboration, and a creative, passionate team. Think of what we could do with a little more!

A New Water Story

We're just like you, we love to be near, in, on, or under water. Lakes, rivers, ponds, oceans, pools, tubs...

It's been a defining force throughout our lives. And we pay very close attention to how other people think, feel, talk, and act towards water. What we notice is truly amazing. World-changing. Revolutionary, even.

When we went looking for a book, a conference, a conversation, or film focused on the full, true value of healthy waters we found that spot on the shelf quite surprisingly empty.

So, now our job is to fill it that gap, connect the dots, and build the bridges. By tirelessly writing books, articles, organizing summits and workshops, teaching, researching, giving talks, communicating with press, and contributing to films that help people live better on - and take better care of - this water planet.

Why? Because water is medicine for everyone, especially those who need it most. And we want that to be Common Knowledge.

The term Common Knowledge implies two underlying principles: it stands for things that should be conventional wisdom but aren’t, as well as essential knowledge that only emerges from dialogue between diverse participants that generates shared common understanding and new paths forward.

The old story of water is out of date, has served us poorly, and has resulted in a global undervaluing of healthy waters and oceans. Together we need to create a new water story.

Some have called Blue Mind a "movement of movements" for water and people.Water Is Our Client

People ask, "who do you work for?" The simple answer is: water. Water is our client.

We work with a wide range of organizations, businesses, agencies, movements, and individuals to tell the new story of water while building on personal and professional relationships that go back several decades. You could say that we are growing, widening, and deepening the Blue Mind movement on a daily basis.

We're very fortunate to collaborate with a wildly talented and creative team of neuroscientists, psychologists, artists, teachers, and watermen and women with diverse skills. So our approach is interdisciplinary and our reach is global.

And as our patrons, we work for you.

We have no salaried jobs or formal paid academic positions. This has been both challenging personally and an exciting opportunity to make a different kind of contribution...and we are excited about both. Our approach is always experimental, innovative, and iterative. We are never redundant.

Your support through Patreon is the key.

You put the fuel in our tank, which leads to unique, artful collaborations and risk-taking projects (we've been told seven times along the way that this approach was "career suicide"). This approach also allows us to share how Blue Mind Works with all of our partners to help them do what they do even better. It's kind of like "Vitamin Blue" for teams, projects, and organizations, some have said. The missing ingredient that makes so many things work better.

The old story we've long told about water is outdated.

You could even say it's dangerously incomplete. Some have said it's boring. Really, it's not easy to make this subject - water, lakes, rivers, oceans - boring!

The result of a perpetually stale, outdated, and incomplete story is that waters and oceans are undervalued and whenever anything or anyone is undervalued, bad things happen.

As our client, we seek to share water's new story as far and wide as we can. We build networks, generate new research and compile the best science - and then we share what we learn widely and wildly. We are efficient, extra clever, always collaborative, and our reach is global.

Usually what's missing from water's story relates to its cognitive, emotional, psychological, social, physical, and spirtual benefits, the so-called "Blue Mind Works" attributes. Those have been ignored, downplayed, or discarded in favor of important economic, ecological, and educational aspects. This is a common observation across many sectors.

Water makes life possible, of course. But it also makes life worth living. Healthy, clean blueways and oceans are also medicine - both for physical and mental health - for those who need it most.

Blue Mind Works is leading a revolutionary movement and changing our thinking about the true value of water and we invite you to join us. You have many talents, skills, and gifts and we'd like to put them to good use.

Our goal is to share our message widely and wildly, to change the conversation so that every human understands the true full value of clean, healthy water, blueways, and oceans. For good. And it's happening!

We dream of a bigger, wider, smarter, and more inclusive blue movement where this value is shared with everyone and that knowledge is integrated across all sectors of society.

Audacious and ambitious? Yes.

Together with a team of unstoppable ambassadors we're taking our Blue Mind message to all ten major 'WET HEARTS+' sectors through an approach we call #PlanBlue. Over the next decade we will engage with the thought leaders and gate keepers in each of these ten sectors. Our team of ambassadors will deliver workshops and trainings to 10,000 leaders in each sector, each year. 10k leaders x 10 sectors x 10 years = 1,000,000 new Blue Mind leaders.

Books and films are at the core of this effort. The national bestseller Blue Mindwas the first book in the water trilogy. It's already been translated into a dozen formats and languages, inspiring hundreds of millions of people through a variety of media. We will also create workbooks, directed to the specific needs of each sector.

Blue Mind is a fascinating study of the emotional, behavioral, psychological and physical connections that keep humans so enchanted with water. Nichols examines seas and oceans, lakes and rivers, even swimming pools and the contents of our bathtubs in a study that is both highly readable and rooted in real research.~ Washington Post

You can be part of Blue Mind Works, help develop the first ever course based on the book, ensure that our annual summits remain strong, and support the creation of our first film and the next two books in the trilogy. If you've read this far, we can assume you're with us.

But first things first...are you ready to go deeper?

In addition to providing support for our daily efforts, this campaign funds the research, writing, editing, and promotion for book two Live Blue: The Seven Ages of Water (Or How to Move, Groove, Love, Play, Strive, Thrive & Win More on Our Little Wet Planet).

A lot of work goes into writing (and disseminating) a book and this next one is a beast!

While the national bestsellerBlue Minddescribed a new way of seeing and understanding water, Live Blue goes deeper and provides a prescription for applying those insights throughout our lives and across all major sectors of society: a blueprint for living well on a water planet.

The Seven Ages of Water was the theme of our 7th Annual Summit and the concept forms the backbone of the Live Blue book as we plunge into our evolving, lifelong complex relationship with water. The categories are overlapping, they recycle, and the edges are not sharp, but the outline is robust, making the research and writing fun and extremely practical.

The Seven Ages of Water

Age 1: BIRTH ~ During conception, gestation, delivery, for babies and toddlers, it's a watery situation.Age 2: PLAY ~ Encompassing childhood and adolescence but the best minds never stop playing. Water, of course, always makes play better.Age 3: THE LOVER ~ When our passions for life, ideas, places, and each other deepen. Water is often the backdrop to finding lifelong passions and romances.Age 4: THE FIGHTER ~ As athletes, advocates, or warriors we learn to fight for what we love most, but every successful warrior knows that humility and rest are sacred. Water provides both. Age 5: THE JUSTICE ~ With accumulated wisdom & experience we balance the weight of the world.Age 6: EBB & FLOW ~ Water is medicine, as the body & mind begin to slow, gravity becomes our enemy. We can crash at any time, but water is still our old friend no matter what ails us, throughout every age of life.Age 7: DEATH ~ From our last breath through memorialization and grief it's back to the source: water. Water provides a backdrop to reconciliation, consilience, and remembrance as we honor those we've lost.

"Peacefulness, happiness, satisfaction and…better surfing? It turns out going for a surf is really good for you, and if biologist Wallace J. Nichols’ research is any indication, that’s only the beginning."~ SURFER Magazine

Through new cutting edge science - on everything from birth to play, romance to death - and gripping stories and fascinating protagonists you'll learn even more about yourself, how water supports us at each age and how to live better on this blue marble planet we all call home.

Here's how we'll get there:

Your support will help dig up the coolest new research, interview those on the front lines of water, translate and transcribe our eight annual summits, get the book onto shelves and into new languages around the world, and then promote it far and wide through all kinds of media, gatherings, a super fun (and wet) book tour, and many online book clubs.

We will even be rethinking the book's format to make it work better and go further. We are excited to share our ideas with you. Live Blue will launch in coordination with our 6th Annual 100 Days of Blue Mind Challenge. Daily we'll read one of the 100 essays live. And this book is literally made to fall apart, as each essay will be published in a different magazine, newspaper, newsletter, blog or language helping reach more people with this important message.

We'll update you every step of the way from my desk to the bookstores and the big screen, and from proposal and publisher to printing another bestseller!

At each of the seven levels of support we will unlock new surprises, gifts, and rewards. We'll reveal insights about each of the seven ages of water, the backbone of the book and film. We'll share sneak-peak excerpts from the book and video clips from the film as we go. There will even be some surprise gifts along the way. As we reach the higher goals, we'll have drawings for some of the bigger surprises and rewards. You'll get more than you give when you join early and invite friends.

Jump in, the water is great!The Blue Mind Works Team

Recent posts by Blue Mind Works

Tiers

SKY

$1 or more per month ∙ 29 of 10000 patrons

A very special hand-written Slow Coast thank you post card loaded with gratitude.

INDIGO

Front row seats for you and a guest at the Live Blue book launch, wherever it is, including your flights, accommodations and inclusion in all the fun activities.

As well as a personal book talk at your venue during the year. Your event, house, office, club or school will be one of the stops on the Live Blue book tour. With signed complementary books for all attending - OR- bring your team (up to 12) to the Slow Coast for a unique immersive 3-day Blue Mind Experience.

Plus all the other cool stuff: a signed first edition hardcover copies of both Blue Mind and Live Blue, as well as limited edition Blue Mind hats, Cause Bar soaps and blue marbles for your whole crew.

Once we reach our goal, you'll also be entered into a drawing to win the ultimate Blue Mind Expedition to Baja with J.

Patrons at this level and higher will be listed as 2019 co-sponsors of all Blue Mind Works keynotes, events, awards and summits.

MIDNIGHT

Your story or insights about the cognitive, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual benefits of water will be woven into one of the chapters of Live Blue.

Front row seats for you and a guest at the Live Blue book launch, wherever it is, including your flights, accommodations and inclusion in all the fun activities.

As well as a personal book talk at your venue during the year. Your event, house, office, club or school will be one of the stops on the Live Blue book tour. With signed complementary books for all attending - OR- bring your team (up to 12) to the Slow Coast for a unique immersive 3-day Blue Mind Experience.

Plus all the other cool stuff: a signed first edition hardcover copies of both Blue Mindand Live Blue, as well as limited edition Blue Mind hats, Cause Bar soaps and blue marbles for your whole crew.

Once we reach our goal, you'll also be entered into a drawing to win the ultimate Blue Mind Expedition to Baja with J.

Patrons at this level and higher will be listed as 2019 co-sponsors of all Blue Mind Works keynotes, events, awards and summits.

NAVY

You and a guest will co-lead a mind-blowing Blue Mind Expedition to Baja with Dr. Nichols along with the pair of winners selected from the drawing.

You will also be J's guest at the Live Blue book launch and your venue of choice will be a stop on the Live Blue book tour, with complementary signed books for all attending - OR- bring your team (up to 12) to the Slow Coast for a unique immersive 3-day Blue Mind Experience.

Plus all of the other cool rewards, of course!

Patrons at this level and higher will be listed as 2019 co-sponsors of all Blue Mind Works keynotes, events, awards and summits.